On My Shelves: Ozma of Oz

 

The third book of the Oz series by L. Frank Baum sees the return of arguably the most popular character in the land – Dorothy Gale. In Ozma of Oz, her Uncle Henry has become ill and is advised by his doctor to take a trip to Australia for a sea and country cure. This was not uncommon in the era in which Baum was writing – various forms of "sea air", "desert air", etc., cures were recommended for exhaustion and for  illnesses, especially tuberculosis or "consumption" as they called it.

While onboard, a powerful storm strikes the vessel, and Dorothy, mistakenly thinking her uncle has gone up on deck, makes her way abovedecks; a particularly powerful gust and wave sends her overboard, with nothing but a large chicken coop to provide her with flotation. Such an event might panic most people, but a girl who survived being scooped up and dropped into a fairyland by a tornado and managed to make her way across that fairyland through many dangers is made of sterner stuff.

The subsiding of the storm allows her to take stock of her situation, and she finds that she has one other companion: a yellow hen, who proceeds to speak – showing that wherever they are, it's not the mundane world. Naming her new friend "Billina", Dorothy explains her prior adventures to the Yellow Hen and observes they are approaching some sort of land.

For the first time, we see a fairyland that is not Oz; the land Dorothy finds herself in is named Ev. Within her first day or two in Ev, Dorothy discovers fruit trees that bear breakfast, lunch, and dinner pails and boxes, finds herself chased by strange people called Wheelers, and in her refuge among rocks discovers a unique clockwork man named Tik-Tok, who assists in driving off the Wheelers once she winds him up.

While the Land of Ev is very pretty, it is not without its share of problems; the true ruling family is gone – the King having sold his wife and children off to the Nome King in a fit of anger, and then committing suicide in regret when the Nome King would not return them.

Now in charge of the country in their absence is Princess Langwidere, who has a most unusual hobby: collecting heads. Specifically, she collects heads of women with particular features, because she is able to remove her head and replace it with another, thus she can literally change her entire face to suit her moods and preferences.

Unfortunately, the heads also have their own influence on Langwidere's personality, and the one she chooses to greet her new guests in happens to be even more vain and sharp of temper than normal. When Dorothy refuses to donate her head to the collection (in return for Langwidere's "second-best" head), Langwidere has her imprisoned until she changes her mind.

At this point, we finally get to see Ozma in action – arriving from across the Deadly Desert that separates Ev and the rest of the world from Oz by means of a magic carpet that unrolls itself ahead, and rolls itself back up behind, Ozma's party. Her party naturally includes the people we have been looking forward to seeing again: the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Woodman, and the Saw-Horse, and they quickly rescue Dorothy from her predicament.

The party from Oz did not arrive here to rescue Dorothy, however. That was a coincidence of timing; Ozma has come to liberate the Royal Family of Ev from the Nome King.

Ozma of Oz thus introduces us to the only recurring villain of the Oz series (leaving aside later add-ons by other authors, including myself): Roquat, later renamed Ruggedo, the Red, the Nome King. A powerful Earth Fairy ruler, Ruggedo has almost uncountable legions of soldiers under his command and extensive, labyrinthine delvings under the earth. He presents himself as a jolly and reasonable ruler, but beneath his Santa-Claus like exterior is a keen, rapacious, and viciously selfish mind that takes delight in granting innocent requests in a way that will make the requester regret it.

This book is a more complex, and more coherent, story than the prior two. Ruggedo is a powerful villain with a veneer of civilization that makes him a more frightening opponent as we slowly see more of his true self emerge.

Ruggedo imprisons the group and then presents them with a simple, sadistic choice: either leave without accomplishing any of their goals, or accept a most dangerous wager: he has transformed all of the Royal Family of Ev into various decorative objects ("bric-a-brac") around his extensive personal chambers. Each member of the party, if they so choose, may enter those chambers alone, and touch a number of objects equal to that of the transformed Family members, speaking the word "Ev" as they do so. If any touched object actually is one of the transformed, they will instantly resume their true form, and the person who successfully found one of the transformed will then be free to go, taking the one they freed with them.

But if they use all of their guesses and fail… they, themselves, will be transformed to another ornament somewhere in the Nome King's Halls…

Given that these are children's books, it isn't a huge spoiler to say that in the end, our heroes triumph – but Baum makes it a much narrower thing, with most of the Oz party ending up transformed to ornaments. Dorothy is the only one who finds one of the family of Ev, a young prince named Evring. Only by good fortune does one of the few remaining people – Billina, the Yellow Hen – discover the key to rescuing their friends.

Baum also plays fair with the reader; an attentive reader can deduce the likely way to free the family of Ev from the text (although, unfortunately, the members of the rescue party can't get the information, since those who fail are not able to communicate the events to their friends).

As with the first novel, Dorothy's character dominates the story, although it is her friend Billina who manages to actually upset the applecart. Still, Dorothy's straightforward approaches to all events often forces others to re-evaluate their approach, and even surprises Roquat/Ruggedo at times.

Billina's depiction is undoubtedly one of the major influences in my characterization of Poplock Duckweed, the small Intelligent Toad companion of Kyri and Tobimar in the Balanced Sword trilogy. Both are often unnoticed, always underestimated, and make great use of this to learn things that others attempt to keep secret – and are also both more dangerous than they appear.

With Billina's help, Dorothy captures the most powerful artifact we ever see in the Oz canon: the Nome King's Magic Belt. The Belt provides the Nome King with a large proportion of his power; it is capable, apparently, of almost anything (except affecting things like the mortals above him digging; perhaps because much of the digging is done in the mortal, not the fairy, realms), and among other things it allows the King to perform the various transformations with great speed and ease. The Belt also protects the wearer from virtually any form of harm, and can grant wishes under some circumstances.

Depriving the King of this Belt, plus the discovery of his one weakness – eggs, which are lethal to Nomes – allows the party to finally escape the Nome King's domains; they are free, but they have made a terrible and vengeful enemy, one who will trouble Oz more than once in the days ahead.

On the other hand, the expedition also returns the Royal Family of Ev to their rightful place, strengthening that country and gaining a powerful alliance in the bargain. Ev is a large country of Fairyland and now that the proper ruling family is back in place will be an influential and useful support for Ozma, further establishing her legitimacy.

The remaining members of the party return to Oz, where there are many celebrations, and a chance to bring Dorothy up-to-date on all the many doings of her friends since she left. Once more, of course, Dorothy must leave Oz. Billina elects to stay – she prefers being a talking Hen and, apparently (somewhat contradicting other Oz sources) the only Hen in Oz.

 

In this case, Dorothy has at hand a means of return: the Magic Belt of the Nome King. At first Dorothy thinks of just wishing herself home, but Ozma points out that while that would likely work, the Belt would then be lost somewhere along the way, as were the powerful Silver Shoes of the Wicked Witch of the East. Instead, Ozma says she will keep the Belt in Oz, and use it to wish Dorothy to the side of her beloved Uncle Henry.

 

In addition, Ozma says that every day at a given time she will watch Dorothy in her Magic Picture (a large picture which will show anything that the viewer desires) and if Dorothy makes a particular sign, she will bring Dorothy to Oz by means of the Belt. This is a very important plot point which figures in more than one story later on.

 

For Polychrome, this is of course one of the important books as it introduces the Nome King and establishes his original character – jolly, clever, affable if in a good mood, and capable of switching almost instantly to being a cruel and vindictive tyrant.

 

Ozma of Oz is one of my favorite Oz novels. It has a clear plot, well-thought-out, and has the return of prior favorites to draw in prior readers while introducing many new and interesting characters – Billina, Tik-Tok, the Hungry Tiger, and others, including of course Roquat AKA Ruggedo himself. Highly recommended!